2/27 Sneaky Alert for Art4Shelter!

Yup, it isn't til May, but we're already getting work painted for Art4Shelter!  Here's another squirrel...

5x7 acrylic on paper

$35 only at

Art4Shelter!

May 13!

Minneapolis!

2/26/2020 Squirrel Nut for Art4Shelter

So... I mailed five paintings to Art4Shelter and forgot to take photos of them...  dang.  Ah well,  I'll have to take pics at the event then, on May 13th!
I seem to be on a bit of a squirrel kick again-
this one is 5x7 acrylic on paper, and will be at the Art4Shelter Fundraiser!  Come on out and pick up some art!  $35 each!  Wahoo!

5x7 acrylic on paper

$35 

available at Art4Shelter!

2/24/2020 Growing Wilder

This is Max, age 10, attempting to NOT pose for me. But he can't help it. And you can tell by his little smirk that he knows I'm taking the photo anyway.
This was my demo for how to paint a person on Saturday.  Skin is tricky. People are tricky. I think we have so many previous ideas of how a person is supposed to look, that when we actually LOOK we aren't sure what we're seeing. I demo-ed this upside down, from the first sketch to most of the painting. It is a delicate balance between being confident and having no clue whatsoever, and doing it anyway. Painting really is all about just doing it. And always being aware that you are learning as you go!

15x15 acrylic on wood

2/22/2020 Tree Rat Indeed!

Another squirrel from my mom's art erie, and I loved his cocky little eye...

We'll make this an auction!

6x6 acrylic on wood

$25 starting bid!

Click here to join the auction!

2/21/2020 Squirrel On Blue

So, my mom sent me a passel of squirrel pics after I posted that one yesterday (which sold to my neighbor super quick!) and she didn't think they were very good, of course, but I love them!  Mom's studio is a beautiful addition to the second floor of my childhood home and it is essentially in the trees so she has a great view of the critters while she paints.  I think her squirrel is a bit plumper than my sis-in-law's, though that could just be a result of puffing up the fur for warmth, including wrapping that poofy tail around like a blanket~

I do love these beasties!  They are so fun!  There's a white one that lives a block or so away, and Duane and I enjoyed watching him one morning a week or so ago while we were eating breakfast at the big window of the Standish Cafe.  It's a great place to eat!

6x6 acrylic on wood

$75

click here to snag this one!

2/20/2020 Blue Squirrel

I'm not sure why he's blue.  It just seemed the right color to paint him, for some reason. 
I'm an artist, not a biologist. 
I get to do these kinds of things.

I'm pretty lucky, all around, I'd say...
It's another one from my sis-in-law, as he came up to the tray of almonds left out for him.  Love this!

6x6 acrylic on wood

$75

click here to snatch this one!

2/19/2020 Dinner...

Dang this month is flying by!  Shoot!  And it's a longer February than usual with the leap year and all!  But sheesh!  I don't have enough critters yet!  Can you send me your animal photos?  Just about anything is fine, except dogs!

I still have this one available!  Something beautiful about these strangely intelligent big birds...

6x6 acrylic on wood

$75

click here for purchase info!

2/18/2020 BdeMkaSka January Eve

I love living in Minneapolis, and I love having so many trees and lakes around.  Though I have to admit I am terrified at all the trees that are being taken down because of the ash borer... it seems there should be a better way to do this, rather than just chopping them all down.  I'm worried about the loss of so much sky cover, so much protection from the elements, and the squirrel highways and bird homes...
I miss our trees.

12x12 acrylic on board

$285

click here to own~

2/17/2020 Shy Wolf

It was a lovely day in our house~ got lots of work done! And the snow now is so illuminating... I love it!  Just don't want to drive in it...

This is a wolf from the MN Zoo again- I love them.  They have such great shapes~

6x6 acrylic on wood

$75

click here to snag!

2/16/2020

Doe, a deer, a female deer....

The background on this was different than how others have felt- I think it is a bit more abstract and sensory suggestive than realistic, and I particularly enjoy the variety of greens, as well as that dark area to the right of the piece leading off...
It's the shapes that I love. Those ears, the space in between them, the space from the neck to the ear, the space under the body- the space between the eyes... they all are so necessary.

Yup.  I  like this one.

8x8 acrylic on wood

$160

click here for purchase info~

2/23/2020. Betty and Boop!

I just felt like reposting this one-  I'm so happy with their faces! and the light, and the leaning in that Betty is doing.  You can tell she's the quieter one, a bit shy, willing to let Boop be the busy greeter of people and the excitable one, because Betty knows that people will then notice her quite grace, and they'll give her the treat instead.

9x12 acrylic on wood

Sold!

2/12/2020 Gooseberry Falls Beach Last Winter

I went up to Wolf Ridge in Finland with the 7th grade class last January because they needed chaperones, and it was 25 below zero. COLD.  Duane and Max came up on Friday with the dogs and picked me up, and we spent the weekend in Two Harbors at a little Airbnb that was expensive for what it was, but allowed dogs so we didn't have a lot of options, but it had a big front window that filled with light in the evening.  Glorious!  And we went hiking around Gooseberry falls with the new-fish visitor center there, and this was a view we saw from the walk down to the shore.  The ice was opalescent, pearly grey.  There's nothing like winter light on the ice.  I love it.

6x6 acrylic on wood

$75

click here to nab this one~

2/11/2020 Take a Bite

Another apple- I think it is always good to paint what's in front of you, and in this case, it was an apple, which is now no more. Good, juicy, sweet apple. We need to eat more fruit and vegetables in my house. I think we've all gained weight since Christmas, and we have to cut sugar and carbs, and move our bodies around more.  I'm committed to walking the dogs farther every morning (despite the freaking ice, which makes walking more of a search-and-try-to-avoid endeavor) and I'm counting calories, because I know when I do that, then I pay more attention to what I'm eating.  I tend to read and eat. Not a good habit.  And I'm so much more aware that everything I do, my kid sees.  And that he sees me as a model. So there.
That's what I'm doing, almost halfway through February!
ohh and SEND ME YOUR CATS!  I am still collecting!
And I'll make this one another auction!  They are so fun!

6x6 acrylic on wood

$25 auction

Click HERE to bid!

2/10 Wrigley, the other one!

I remember when I first started selling my paintings on-line and I'd get to carefully wrap each painting up and tuck it safely into a padded mailer, and then happily trot off to the post office with my little purchased charges and see them off into the hands of the competent post-people.  It was very exciting and made me feel like a "real ARTIST"!
And I can tell you, it still feels that way!
Thanks for wanting to hang my art in your homes!

Isn't this guy just the cutest!?!

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold!

2/6/2020 Bogey a Commission

This is one of a pair of sweet faces I got to paint! Now is a great time for commissions- until March anyway, when you should be asking me to paint your cats!  By the way, there's still time so SEND me your CAT PHOTOS!
Wahoo!

8x8 acrylic on wood

Sold!

2/5/2020. Fawn in Grasses

Hmmm.  I watched a PBS show about a UK couple who buy a 150 year old French estate instead of the state address. Here's a link- it's pretty fun, actually!  Escape to the Chapeau is what it's called~ always been a bit of a fantasy of mine too, though I do at times find myself thinking that our crumbling 110 year old house is a bit much...
And today I've been feeling a bit helpless about the wreckage in the Whitehouse.  I almost typed "Whitehearse"....
But I'm not going there~ not today!  The sun is shining in Minnesota. And here's a fawn for you!
I had so much fun painting this one- getting those tawny shadows and colors right, and the negative space, and how much of a riot of flowers to include-

Wahoo!
I can't wait to start painting your cats!  Keep sending those photos!  I haven't made up my mind just yet!

6x6 acrylic on wood

$75

click here to nab this one!

2/4/2020 Backward Glance

I took this photo of the wonderful wolves at the Minnesota Zoo when we were there over the holidays. The pack of 4 wolves were getting all excited and jumping on each other-  I think the keeper may have been coming to feed them or something, but I took several photos without consciously thinking about what I was tryin to get, and I was really happy with this guys' eyes-  hmm, but I'm not sure it carries through on this photo...

I had some fun going a bit more abstract in the background-  there was snow...

6x9 acrylic on wood

$95

click here to snag this puppy!

2/3/2020. Thank you! For our Anniversary on Ice!

It was a beautiful weekend, and I'm a bit pooped yet because of it!  We had a long day out at Lake Harriet with lots of beautiful people and a fantastic Tiny Art Car Parade and our 12th Anniversary Cake Walk!  I didn't get a lot of photos because I was so busy, so if you got any you can send them on to us!

Next weekend is the last Art Shanty Weekend!  Come on out!  Hope to see you there!

Oh and I'm wearing the crown Duane made for me at our actual wedding~ that was SUCH an incredible day!

I have a wedding album link to our Facebook album here, I think....